A mum has explained why she told her six-year-old daughter to kick two boys “in the business” after they bullied her and commented on her weight.
Mandi Castle, from Dallas, US, explained on her blog that her daughter said two boys “hit her butt” in the playground and, when she told them to stop they called her “chubby” and laughed.
When her daughter said she would hide next break time to avoid the boys, Castle told her: “No. You will not let two boys ruin your free time. If they do that tomorrow, you say ‘Keep your hands off of me’.
“If they do not stop, you tell the teacher. If they continue to bother you, you turn around and step on their feet, or kick them in the shins or their business, and if you get in trouble, go ahead and tell your teacher to give me a call.”
Speaking to HuffPost UK, Castle said: “Hearing my daughter tell me that a boy touched her bottom and then called her fat when she told him to stop filled me with anger because I understood how she felt.”
Castle said she felt this was an opportunity to teach her daughter how to handle these situations for the rest of her life.
“The more I thought about it, I realised that I never felt empowered growing up to fight back,” the mum said
“Instead, I laughed off the behaviour as ‘boys will be boys’ or ignored it.
“I wanted to write about how, as parents, we have the responsibility to break this cycle both with our daughters and our sons.”
Castle said she has had a huge response since writing and sharing the blog post.
“I never expected it to reach so many people, and the response has been mostly great,” she said. “So many women have reached out to me thanking me for speaking out about this because they have had similar experiences and didn’t stick up for themselves.
“Mums and dads alike have been very supportive of the message.”
In an open message to parents, Castle continued: “We have to teach our sons and our daughters at a very young age that nobody is allowed to touch their body without their consent, and in return, they cannot touch another.
“But when it happens, their body is theirs, and they have the right to defend themselves. Stop means stop, and no means no at any age.”